venal

週末の新聞で文科省汚職で3人目となる要職者の辞任を報じていました。

いつの時代も賄賂というものはなくならないようです。金ずくでどうにでもなる、買収されやすいタイプのことを英語で、"venal"という形容詞で表現します。

あまりお目にかからない単語ではないでしょうか。


Let’s say you were elected to public office, nationally or locally. What would you do with that opportunity? Would you seek to improve your constituents’ quality of life, or would you focus on what’s in it for you?

Unfortunately, we have far too many examples of politicians choosing the latter.

Corruption and self-serving political behavior are everywhere. With news that the current president’s personal lawyer and campaign manager are guilty of multiple counts including tax evasion, bank fraud and campaign finance violations, it is hard to avoid the presumption that this venal behavior is tightly connected to and possibly directed by the man at the top.
(Steve Markbreiter. Enough with self-serving politicians here, elsewhere. The Riverdale Press. September 2, 2018.)


この"venal"はラテン語で売却を意味する名詞venus（ヴィーナスのVenusとスペルは同じですが別の単語です）から来ています。形容詞形がvenalisで、「売り物の」、という意味です。

同語源の単語には"vend"（売る）があります。ご存知のように、"vender"や"vending machine"の"vend"です。